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[[Image:Hitlerspeech.jpg‎|thumb|325px|right|[[Adolf Hitler]] was a proponent of gun control]]‎

[[Image:Glock30.jpg|right|200px]]

 

The '''gun''' is a mechanical [[weapon]] which uses expanding gas to fire a [[bullet]], [[dart]] or other projectile through a tube (its shaft). Guns are primarily defensive weapons.

The '''gun''' is a mechanical [[weapon]] which uses expanding gas to fire a [[bullet]], [[dart]] or other projectile through a tube (its shaft). Guns are primarily defensive weapons.

In semi-automatic weapons, each pull of the trigger fires a bullet, each shot ejecting spent brass and loading new ammunition until the magazine is depleted. In fully automatic weapons, bullets will be fired as long as the trigger is depressed. Fully automatic fire will cause the gun to heat up very quickly, which can become dangerous as it can burn exposed flesh and because rounds may "cook off" or fire unexpectedly due to the chamber becoming hot enough to ignite the propellant.

In semi-automatic weapons, each pull of the trigger fires a bullet, each shot ejecting spent brass and loading new ammunition until the magazine is depleted. In fully automatic weapons, bullets will be fired as long as the trigger is depressed. Fully automatic fire will cause the gun to heat up very quickly, which can become dangerous as it can burn exposed flesh and because rounds may "cook off" or fire unexpectedly due to the chamber becoming hot enough to ignite the propellant.

[[Image:Glock30.jpg|right|200px]]

 

Gunpowder was invented in [[China]] around the 800s AD. The Chinese recognized the substance's potential for warfare and used gunpowder in rockets and bombs. In the twelfth century, firearms were invented there, and this technology, though inefficient and costly at the time, quickly spread to the [[Islam|Islamic World]] and [[Europe]]. Guns at this time were very inaccurate and not particularly powerful (a full suit of armor could easily repel gunfire) and thus played only a minor role in European warfare until the mid-fifteenth century.

 

The gun soon became a central part of the Western arsenal, and saw extensive use in both European battlefields and the [[Colonization of the Americas]], where guns were used to subdue native populations.

 

==Gun control==

==Gun control==

[[Gun control]] consists of limitations on the fundamental right of self-defense.

[[Gun control]] consists of limitations on the ownership of firearms, and by extension restricts the fundamental right of self-defense.

[[Conservative]]s usually emphasize the [[individualism|individual]] [[the right to self-defense]] through the use of guns.  [[Liberal]]s more often oppose this individual right, and tend to dislike even guards or police carrying guns.

[[Conservative]]s usually emphasize the [[individualism|individual]] [[the right to self-defense]] through the use of guns.  [[Liberal]]s more often oppose this individual right, and tend to dislike even guards or police carrying guns.